Manchester City (England) and Barcelona (Spain), the two favorites to regain UEFA Champions League (UCL) supremacy, celebrated their first victories in the competition with a goal-fest.
City defeated Bratislava (Slovakia) 4-0 away from home in the second leg of the 2024-2025 UCL League Phase 2 at the Narodni Putvalovi Stadion in Slovakia on Tuesday (Feb. 2).
After lifting the UCL title for the first time in the club’s history in the 2022-2023 season, City will look to repeat as champions for the second time in two seasons.
After a 0-0 draw with Inter Milan (Italy) in the first leg, City bounced back with a convincing win over Bratislava.
With their first win in the UCL this season, City have four points and are fourth out of 36 teams.
This season, the UCL moved away from the traditional group stage format, with each team playing eight matches – four at home and four away – to determine the overall standings.
The first through eighth-place finishers will advance directly to the round of 16, while the ninth through 24th-place finishers will play for a spot in the round of 16 through a playoff.
City completely dominated Bratislava on the day with 77 percent of the ball possession and 14 shots on goal.
City opened the scoring in the eighth minute when Ilkay Gundogan scored with a right-footed volley in front of goal.
In the 15th minute, Phil Foden collected a Jeremy Doku cutback and calmly finished with his left foot from the penalty area in front of goal.
In the 13th minute of the second half, Rico Lewis’ through ball allowed Elling Holland to break the defense for a moment before slotting the ball past the keeper with his right foot to extend the lead.
James McCarty added a second goal in the 29th minute with a left-footed strike.
Barcelona also opened the tournament with a 5-0 win at home over Young Boys (Switzerland), led by a multi-goal performance from Robert Lewandowski.
After falling to AS Monaco (FRA) 1-2 in the first leg, Barcelona moved into 10th place with three points.
Lewandowski gave his team the lead in the eighth minute, slotting home with his left foot in front of the left post after a pass from Hapinha.
In the 34th minute, after Pedri’s shot was blocked by the defense, Hapinha found the back of the net with his left foot.
In the 37th minute, Inigo Martinez rose to meet Pedri’s free kick and rattled the net with a header.
Six minutes into the second half, a Martinez header from a corner kick was headed home by Lewandowski, who raced into the box to complete the hat trick.
Barcelona added an own goal in the 36th minute to seal the win.
Meanwhile, Leverkusen (GER) moved into third place with a 1-0 victory over AC Milan (ITA) thanks to Victor Boniface’s game-winner six minutes into the second half.
Dortmund (GER), who thrashed Celtic (SC) 7-1 earlier in the day, are in first place, while Brest (FRA), who thrashed Salzburg (GER) 4-0, are in second. 토토사이트